1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a light transmitting panel having remarkable artistic relief patterns and to a method for its fabrication.
2. Brief Statement of the Prior Art
Decorative panels of glass or light-transmitting plastics have been used in many and varied application. A classic example is the ancient technique of stained and leaded glass in which colored segments of glass are secured with lead caming into an artistic panel. In recent years plastic overlays and lead strip caming have been used such as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,335,170 and 4,438,165.
Beveled and leaded glass has also been used for centuries in which the edges of segments of glass are beveled and the segments are secured together by lead caming. The refraction and reflection of light by the beveled edges of the glass enhances the over-all artistic appearance of these panels. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,919 there is disclosed and claimed a method for simulating the beveled and leaded glass utilizing plastic sheets in which beveled grooves have been formed by molded or machining. Lead caming is placed in the grooves to complete the overall appearance flat panels of beveled and leaded glass. While this technique simulates beveled and leaded glass, it, as beveled glass, has a limited degree of refraction and reflection of light because of the limited thickness of the material used for the panel.
None of the techniques achieves the full potential of light reflection that can be attained with a deeply relieved artistic pattern in transparent or light-transmitting panels.